In a world where every aspect of life has been stripped down to its core because of a national or global event, survival becomes almost impossible. Only those who have the proper skills and abilities will be able to make it and become part of the survival communities. If you have one of these post collapse professions, you can write your own salvation ticket.
Stop and think about it, we are almost 100% dependent on others when it comes to our modern, daily lives. If there is no store to go to tomorrow, how would you procure your food? If your house will be leveled by an earthquake, do you know how to rebuild it? How about if your car breaks down? Would you know how to fix it?
These are all questions that most people don’t have a proper answer for. We believe that “it won’t happen to us,” that we are somehow protected by the divinity and our government. Unfortunately, as history taught us, we will have to rely on our own strength to survive a disaster before helps comes our way. If that help never comes, you might as well use your skills to survive on your own. If you can’t make it on your own, joining a community that values your abilities.
The following post collapse professions will become mandatory for a survival group:
Doctor or Nurse
This is probably the most important profession. It should definitely be near the top of the post collapse professions list. There has never been a disaster or any other type of emergency event that didn’t have causalities. We have to understand that the human body, although a complex machine, it still has a certain fragility and weakness.
It requires a great deal of knowledge to be healed. If you are one of the people that have medical training, you should be able to handle most every trauma case. You should have extensive knowledge of medicines and their use. If you are a doctor or a nurse, you will have a privileged spot in every survival group.
Carpenter and Mason
Just like the human body, material things will also break down. Somebody needs to pick up the pieces and glue them together. Things will need to be rebuilt, and a good carpenter would become an excellent addition to any survival group. A carpenter doesn’t just nail two pieces of wood together, and his knowledge includes aptitudes in physics, architecture, and engineering.
On the other hand, a stonemason will be able to build sturdy walls, foundations and all sorts of stoves to help you stay warm and cook your food. These are two post collapse professions that would be hard to find. People who have this knowledge will be able to survive on their own by building shelters in isolated areas. They will look for help only when needing medical aid or running low on supplies.
Suggested reading: Cordwood building – A traditional building technique that stood the test of time
Blacksmith
When it comes to post collapse professions, a metalworker will undoubtedly improve the quality of life by using his skills to full extent. If you need someone to hammer out a spear or a knife, or even to cast some bullets for your gun, you should consider affiliating yourself with a blacksmith in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Besides being able to manufacture weapons and tools, a good blacksmith will find ways to fix most metal objects. Nowadays you can watch TV shows about blacksmithing due to the do-it-yourself trend. People can understand how complex this profession can be.
Engineer and mechanic
While a carpenter or a blacksmith can help you build and fix “primitive items,” there are scientific projects that would require a more extensive knowledge. If you need to fix a solar panel, if you have a windmill to install or build a biogas generator, with the proper parts and the right knowledge you could be able to do it yourself. However, designing and improving complex systems or mechanisms requires a much more complex knowledge of how things work.
For example, you will not be able to convert a diesel engine to run on biofuel without engineering or mechanical experience. Knowing how to use a multitude of tools and how to improvise with the items you scavenge requires a lot of school years and practice to master.
Farmer or Homesteader
Even though most people can improvise a shelter or scavenge for items they need for survival, they will have a more significant problem to face as time goes by. Food scarcity has been the number one challenger for humanity since the dawn of time. Hunger makes people do dreadful things. Killing each other over food will become a common occurrence in a world cannibalized of resources. Farmers know how to produce abundant crops even with small gardens. They can understand the land, the crop cycles and weather patterns. Even more, they know how to improve the soils by adding the missing nutrients needed for a variety of crops.
A rancher will be able to organize a sustainable source of livestock for food and knows how to use every part of the animal. Modern farming relies too much on technology to feed millions. We forget that traditional agriculture is becoming one of the lost ways of living. When technology fails, how many people do you think will be able to keep a small garden and animal pens to feed a few dozen? When it comes to post collapse profession a farmer and a medic will be able to increase the quality of life in any survival group.
Butcher
Butchering an animal is an important skill to have when grocery stores are no longer open for business. While some people believe that this is an important skill to add to your post collapse professions list, I consider it to be more of a survival art rather than a profession. It takes certain dexterity to process game and one wrong slip of the knife can spoil the meat. A good butcher knows not only how to process game while minimizing the waste, but also how to keep the meat fresh and edible for long periods of time.
Cutting, grinding and preparing meat in any type of environment, without ignoring health practices should all be part of the butcher’s knowledge. Even more, a good butcher knows how to take care of the tools. A butcher can use various slaughtering techniques for all types of animals.
Gunsmith and marksman
In a post-apocalyptic world, guns will become useful survival tools. Just like any other tool, they will need maintenance and cleaning. Breaking down a firearm for this purposes is not a skill everyone has, but it can be learned by seeing and doing. Using your guns for hunting and defensive purposes with good accuracy and success rate is a totally different thing.
A skilled rifleman requires years of training on the field, has a deep understanding of the mechanics of weapons. A good eyesight and physical condition are also mandatory attributes in a hostile environment.
Hunter
Some people fail to consider hunting as part of the post collapse professions. Many assume that hunting will become a useless skill since no game will be available. People think that everyone will start hunting and entire species will be decimated just to sustain the hungry masses when the brown stuff hits the fan. I can tell you that most of them will die long before this happens. Hunting is not as easy as you see in movies or TV shows.
You can’t just take your rifle and go into the woods, hoping you will bring some meat home. The animals will spot you miles before you will able to see them. Your odors will give away your position long before you can notice that game was in your vicinity.
A good hunter is hard to find and any survival group will be lucky to have one. A hunter knows how to set traps and improvise when the situation becomes desperate. Even more, even if somehow there will be no more game left, the skills of an experienced hunter can still be put to good use. They can set traps for unwanted guests, scout vast regions for hostiles and even track people in case needed.
Related reading: 10 Survival Hunting essentials that everyone should master
Leader
Although people fail to see the use of leadership when it comes to post collapse professions, this is a trade that becomes mandatory as survival communities develop and grow in numbers. People will always need rules and laws to function correctly for a more significant cause than their own survival. Human nature is difficult to control. People will become precious resources that need to be organized and exploited for everyone’s gain.
A leader must be a good listener, delegator, and inspirational speaker. He or she needs to be understanding and responsible when dealing with people, but also decisive when people don’t follow the rules. A leader shouldn’t work alone and the organization of a democratic system where people can take action will be required.
People whisperer
I couldn’t end this article without adding this skill on the post collapse professions list as chances are you will encounter some of them in a post collapse world. During a long-term hardship situation, people whisperers will rise, may they be religious leaders or skilled communicators. These people can move others by creating a safe space for them through direct contact on a mental, verbal, physical and spiritual level.
They can guide the masses in a specific direction without exposing themselves to danger and often, without revealing their true intentions. The weak will always look for someone to follow. The sheep will follow the wolf for immediate gain without thinking of future consequences.
Although a people whisperer can be considered a leader, there are a few distinctive traits that separate the two. The first follows the path towards personal gain while the second looks after the well-being of the community. A people whisper is willing to sacrifice people for immediate gain, while a leader values the people as irreplaceable long-term resources. A people whisperer will eliminate anyone who stands against his doctrine.
A leader will leave room for dialog. If you are the type of person that can move people and convince them to follow you in any direction, you will be able to form your own survival group without having real-life skills. How you lead that group… well, that remains for you to decide.
The post collapse professions listed in this article are the main trades that will stand the test of time and turmoil. They are needed for every survival community that aims for long-term survival and prosperity in an austere world. If you have one of the post-collapse professions listed here, you will become a valuable asset for any type of survival group.
Other Self-sufficiency and Preparedness solutions you may like:
The LOST WAYS 2 (The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us)
US Water Revolution ( A DIY Project to Generate Clean Water Anywhere)
Bullet Proof Home (Learn how to Safeguard your Home)
Blackout USA (Video about EMP survival and preparedness guide)
You forgot safety. Someone with knowledge of safety regulations can keep you and your group from harm. Bad enough that you are in a situation, even worse you injure yourself or a team mate due to lack of proper safety measures. Safety in training becomes essential in that if you are injured just training, what will happen to you in a real event now that your physical capacity and even mental capacity has been compromised? The army learned this lesson with the up-armored Humvee’s in that it started seriously injuring and sometimes killing service members before they even got to the front lines. Injuries place serious demands on personnel, medical units, efficiency, defensibly and morale. This is about surviving a situation, not becoming a statistic of it.
Good article but….
One or two VERY important jobs have been left out. Shoes and Clothes.
You might be the best hunter in the world and eat like a king, but that situation will not last long once your boots fall apart and all supplies of footwear have already been looted. Looking at history it is astounding how many people took frostbite and gangrene from frostbite as granted. This includes the winter quarters of General Washington’s army. Some of the accounts are horrifying. The same is true for clothing. Trying to survive a winter in patchy clothes that are falling apart and blankets worn thin is a disaster in the making. This is particularly true if you are short on food because your hunter can’t go hunting because his boots have fallen apart.
More than technology our lives and comfort after SHTF are dependent on people who know how to create what we wear from what we hunt, grow, and find. Believe you me when I say that this art is definitly NOT unskilled labor.
The Weavers, Spinners, Knitters, Leather workers etc, are just as essential as the other basic professions. Making a blanket , or an outfit, from scratch (yeah, we will get there eventually) is as advanced a skill as the blacksmith putting together a knife. Do not under rate this category of jobs. You would regret it.